Here is Gone
by Jean-theGuardian
Summary: In the chaos of the Ats's 3rd and BtVS's 6th season's, Dawn and Conner are destined to find each other. But the forces of darkness have other plans. Can the Scoobies and the Fang Gang save their superkids from the wrath of Sahjahn?
1. Default Chapter

HERE IS GONE  
  
Spoilers: Set in the middle of Ats's "Benediction" and BtVS's "Two to Go". It would have taken too much work to work out the Angel-getting-buried-in-the-sea thing.   
  
Summary: In the chaos of the Ats's 3rd and BtVS's 6th season's, Dawn and Conner are destined to find each other. But the forces of darkness have other plans. Maybe with a little divine intervention, something can change. Can the Scoobies and the Fang Gang save their superkids from the wrath of Sahjahn? And what will become of Buffy and Angel, who haven't spoken since her resurrection?And where the hell is Spike and his shiny new soul in all of this?  
  
Pairings: Buffy/Angel (B/A{forever}), Conner/Dawn (C/D), Willow/??, Fred/Gunn, flashes of C/A, B/S, X/Anya, Willow/Tara, plus some surprise pairings.  
  
Feedback: YES, please! But all you C/A, B/S fans keep your nasty little flames to yourself. Or mail 'em to that bloody poofter Joss Whedon.  
  
Email: guardianshaven@hotmail.com  
  
Author: Jean_theGuardian  
  
Author's Notes: 1) Featured here will be one of my favorite new songs, Here is Gone, by the Goo Goo Dolls( hence the title). Also featuring "Hero", from the new Spider-Man Movie. 2) Some other songs will be sprinkled throughout the story. 3) Cordelia hasn't become a Higher Being yet. Keyword here: YET. 4) Some surprise character pop-ups throughout the story.   
  
Rating: R, possibly. Some sex, though nothing too tacky; violence, strong language.  
  
----------------------  
  
The young Bracchan demon stared directly into the swirling purple portal. He watched uneasily as he watched past, present and future events in the Earth planes merging, swirling, converging into one long   
frightening tapestry.   
  
"C'mon, lad", he whispered earnestly. "Don't do it. Don't listen to that woman. SHE killed Holtz, not your dad! You'll never forgive yourself...."  
  
And yet, despite his pleas, he could only watch in horror as a young, wiry, brown-haired boy sealed up his father, the vampire with a soul, with the aid of a wild-eyed redhead, and tossed him into the sea like a sac of old garbage.   
  
His father. His real father.  
  
Angel.  
  
Just as quickly, the swirling continued to another vision. A young woman, a Seer, was now ascending to a higher plane. To become a Higher Being. Her hair was blonde now, but somehow she was just the same as the young half-demon remembered her.  
  
Cordelia. His beloved.  
  
"Perhaps 'ts fer de best, Alan", a beautiful Jamaican girl tried futily to comfort her friend.  
  
"How could this possibly be for the best, Kendra?", the half-demon snapped as he turned to look at the former Slayer. "Angel just got chucked into the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, by his own SON, no less, Connor's been brainwashed by that sick red-headed lass, and Cordy, the only person who could possibly know where they are, just got sucked up into some Higher Plane, while the Powers conveniently left the rest of Angel's band to wonder where the hell are the REST OF 'EM!" He paused. "And stop callin' me Alan! It's Doyle. Just Doyle."  
  
"Wh-what about S-s-Sunnydale", asked a timid young blonde woman, who appeared out of nowhere.  
  
Doyle whirled around to find the girl nervously clutching her sides. He felt some sympathy for her. She had just arrived recently and she was obviously having trouble adjusting to the surroundings of their environment.   
  
Which was, by the way, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and yet at the center of everything. How exactly they found this place was a mystery even to them.   
  
"Sorry, lass", Doyle said apoligetically. "Eh, Tara, was it? Friend of the Slayer's?  
  
The witch nodded nervously. "Um...d-do you think it's p-p-possible to s-see what's going on in S-s-Sunnydale since I've b-been..." Her eyes were downcast.   
  
Kendra nodded. "I t'ink dat can be arranged. Can't it, Ala..er, Doyle?"  
  
Doyle nodded. "Sure."  
  
He turned back to the swirling portal. "Oh, Seeing Eye, witness to the Past, Present, Future and the Never Was, show us the events happening with the Slayer and her kin since Tara's passing."  
  
Lightning flashed from within the Eye, making the portal glow pink for a moment then back to purple, and   
the images flashed before them. Willow's destructive magickal powers erupting from within her, transforming the gently red-head into a raven-haired weapon of darkness and fury. Her brutal torture and murder of Warren, the one responsible for Tara's death. The battle between the Dark Wicca and her friends. Buffy's near-rape at the hands of Spike, Giles' return and battle with Willow, to his defeat. The raising of the Satanic Temple of Proserpexa in an attempt by Willow to incinerate the whole planet. Buffy and Dawn's struggle against the earth demons. Willow finally breaking down in remorseful tears in Xander's arms. And finally, and most surprisingly, the return of Spike's soul at the hands of an African demon.   
  
Tara's eyes were brimmed with tears. She wondered in shock how all of this had happened. And to think that her own death had been the catalyst for all of these events to happen made her feel more than a little guilty.  
  
"You see?", Doyle shook his head "Somebody screwed up majorly. And the Powers allowed this to happen! This wasn't supposed to end like this! It wasn't supposed to--"  
  
Without warning, the whole realm began to shake and rumble.   
  
"Wh-what's happening, Alan?", Kendra asked the half-Braccen.   
  
"We're not alone anymore, Kendra", he stated as he and the others struggled to regain their footing.  
  
"Who dares to enter the Sacred Place?", an otherworldy voice demanded angrily from the skies above.  
  
Doyle stepped to the center of the platform holding them up. Summoning every ounce of courage he had, he called back, "It is I, Alan Francis Doyle. A messenger from the Powers That Be. I also have Kendra, the Vampire Slayer and Tara the Wiccan with me."  
  
"You have no premis to enter here, Seer!",the voice declared. "You all belong in the other worlds, the heavens reserved for the fallen warriors! Your unlawful entry into the Sacred Place is punishable by spending the rest of your eternities in the darkest of Hells, and the forfeit of your reincarnations!"   
  
"Wh-who i-i-is that?", a nervous and frightened Tara whispered to Kendra.  
  
"Dat is the spirit of Chronos, a former Greek God", Kendra evenly replied in her Jamaican patois. "The Powers That Be assigned him to guarding the Sacred Place eons ago, after the fall of the Greek Gods.They spared him the fate of oblivion, unlike his Greek counterparts, after they attempted to seize control from the Powers themselves. "  
  
"Wh-why is this place so important that they'd assign a g-god to g-guard it?", Tara asked.   
  
"Legend says that Sacred Place possesses the ability to let viewers pass through time itself", she explained. "Dat is a power too dangerous to let go unguarded."  
  
"The events on the Earth's plane will affect the entire universe", Doyle pleaded to the fallen God. "You must not let these events happen! Allow us to speak to the Powers! Their Chosen Warriors are in danger, the souled vampire is already imprisoned in a watery grave, and the Slayer needs time to recoup from the events of the recent past--"  
  
"Your very presence here violates the Sacred Place as we speak!", Chronos said. "Lower beings were never meant to set foot into the core of the eyes of destiny!"  
  
"For GOD's sake, LISTEN, man!!", Doyle angrily cried out, pointing to the Eye. "This fate was not supposed to have happened like this! Sahjahn's meddling with the time continuum has cost our Warriors greatly, and endangered the Earth and countless other dimensions in the process! YOU KNOW THAT!! This has to be fixed--"  
  
"That is no concern of mine, Half-Breed!", Chronos rebuffed. "What has passed shall be and what has not never was meant to be! Take your grievance to the Powers! But leave the Sacred Place immediately!"  
  
"Gee, that'd be just great, wouldn't it?", Doyle shot back sarcastically. " Complain to the Powers, why didn't I think of that? Oh yeah, because no lower beings can EXIST IN THEIR REALITY!"  
  
"Leave this realm NOW!", Chronos roared. "If you insist on defying me, I shall invoke upon you torment on your eternal souls the likes of which none could bear! Your very essences shall be devoured by the darkness of the worst of hells and there your shall perish a thousand upon a thousand times over for all time!..."  
  
While this was going on, Tara noticed a small green glow eminating from beneath the Eye itself.   
  
"What's that?", she asked.  
  
Kendra turned her eyes from the heated argument between Doyle and Chronos to pay attention to what the witch was talking about. "What? Dat? Oh, dat is the Time that Never Was. It's all the events of history itself that would have happened if the timeline were altered in some way, through certain events taking place, or not taking place."  
  
"Y-you mean...wha-what c-could have b-been?", Tara asked, with increasing interest.  
  
"Yes", Kendra nodded. "I haven't had the courage to look at it meself. Maybe I've been afraid of what the future would have held for me, what things I could be experiencin' right now...if it weren't for the vampire bitch with the sharp fingernails."  
  
Tara stepped closer to the Eye, going unnoticed by the defending God, who was supposed to be omniscient. Big laugh there. With a streak of fear racing through her, Tara reached for a piece of the swirling underbelly of green cloud and mist. The mist that was supposed to hold the details of all that never was...or could have been...  
  
"YOU, WITCH!", Chronos ordered. "Do not touch the Eye of the Never Was! Your mortal hands are unworthy of it!"  
  
"Tara, DON'T TOUCH THAT!", Doyle warned.  
  
"But whu--"  
  
Too late. Tara's hand instinctively jerked into the mist. A green light shot out from it, sending the startled Tara stumbling back on her rear end. Kendra and Doyle let out frightened cries for Tara's safety as they each rushed forward to help the Wiccan to her feet.  
  
"FOUL BLASPHEMERS!", Chronos roared. "YOU DARE TO BREACH THE EYE? THAT WHICH WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE TOUCHED BY LOWER HANDS?! YOU--"  
  
"Ah, put a sock in it, will ya?", Doyle snapped.   
  
"Alan, look!", Kendra pointed out. Doyle turned his gaze to Tara.In her trembling hands, she held a fragment of the Eye of the Never Was. She held a piece of a present and future that could never be...  
  
And as if the fragment could sense her desire, she was shown the future of her world.  
  
Many images of people, loved ones flooded the shard-like piece. Destinies altered, lives saved, battles fought.   
  
But in particular one event caught their eyes.  
  
A young, dark, haired girl, about 15. Living, loving, fighting side-by-side with a wiry, but handsome boy of about the same age. Separate, they were formidable. Together, they were powerful. Unstoppable, even.   
  
Their strength, their courage, their love would affect and change the world around them...  
  
"Doyle...this...", Tara began, but the words caught in her throat. What she had seen was...so beautiful, and so tragic at the same time to realize that it would never be.  
  
Suddenly, Doyle got a glint in his wily Irish eyes. He stepped abruptly away from the women and closer to the rotating Eye.   
  
"We saw it, you know that, don't ya?", Doyle taunted the god. "Some guardian YOU are! Can't even keep a bunch o' lowly beings from tappin' yer precious Eye, then, huh?"  
  
"IMPUDENT TRESPASSER!", Chronos roared so that the entire realm began to tremble. "YOU DARE TO MOCK CHRONOS IN THE SACRED PLACE?"  
  
"Oooh, big scary Chronos, eh?", Doyle continued mocking him. "Can't beat the Powers, can't guard the Eye...not good fer much, are ya? Ever consider getting a day job as a sanitary worker? I mean the job, well, stinks, and the hours a re a wee bit long, but the benefits are worth it--"  
  
"Alan, what the hell are you t' inkin?", Kendra whispered fiercely.   
  
"I Shall flay the soul off your core and make you beg me for death before I devour you, arrogant Brakken fool!",Chronos warned as the sky began to flash warningly.  
  
"All talk and no brass, that's the lot o' ya godly types", Doyle snickered, while inside his heart, he whispered a prayer to anyone who was listening that he knew what he was doing. "You're really beginning to be a bore, Chronie, old pal. Ever consider doing one of those sleeping tapes to help insomniacs? You'd make a killing off of the royalties--"  
  
KA-TOOM!  
  
Without warning, a blueish bolt pierced from the skies and headed straight for Doyle.   
  
"ALAN!!", cried out Kendra in horror.   
  
But Doyle's demon reflexes (blessed be his father for that) reacted quick enough to get him out of harm's way. Barely.   
  
The bolt pierced the Eye, however, and instantly, a purple tear opened up within the Eye itself.  
  
Fierce winds immediately swept through the Sacred Place. "What did you do?", Tara yelled over the howling winds.  
  
"Got him to open a door for us", Doyle responded, taking her hand. "C'mon, lass! We've got no time to lose!"  
  
"Alan, what are you intendin'?", Kendra demanded as she struggled to her feet.  
  
"Trust me, Kendra. I'll tell ya when we get there", Doyle said. "You just have to trust me."  
  
He extended his free hand (one was holding Tara) to the Slayer. Reluctantly, Kendra grabbed it.   
  
And in one burst of a step, the trio flew towards the portal.  
  
"Stop! STOOOOP!", Chronos roared in anger. "DO NOT ENTER THE EYE'S--"  
  
But the three had already taken flight. Doyle speared through the air in a wild leap, aiming himself for the torn portal in the Eye, cradling a frightened Tara in his arms. Kendra followed behind him. Even though she could have easily outrun him with her Slayer speed, something told her to hold back, just enough for him to get through first, but fast enough to get there in time...  
  
The desparate god, attempting to seal the portal, sent another bolt flying towards the Eye...  
  
Just as the three wanderers disappeared into it.   
  
"NOOOOOO!!!", Chronos bellowed in a voice that echoed with frightening resonance throughout the Sacred Place. The god had failed. And now he would have a lot of explaining to do to the Powers That Be.  
Who weren't very pleasant when unpleased....  
----------------  
  
The portal ripped open and the three heroes tumbled out onto a cold, painfully hard concrete floor.  
  
Gasping, each of them sat up, gathering their thoughts and their bodies together.  
  
"Oooh, me achin' head", mumbled Kendra.   
  
"Ouch", Tara winced, rubbing her arm tenderly. "I thought things didn't hurt anymore when you're dead."  
  
"I don't really think we're dead, lass", Doyle said cautiously. "At least, not for the moment."  
  
Tara blinked in surprise. "Wh-wh-what? We-we're n-n-not d-d-dead??"  
  
Kendra got to her feet. "Alright, Alan Francis Doyle, you'd better start explainin' now. I trusted you through this insane plan of yours, now where de hell are we?"  
  
Doyle took a few steps before stepping out of the alleyway where they landed. He peered around. Whooshing cars came roaring about from the streets, honking furiously at each other as the traffic became clogged. Men walked in business suits, talking on cell phones. Women sported ensembles for high-powered female brokers, talking with clients on the streets. Teens blasted their music from the stereo systems in their flashy cars.  
  
Doyle looked up in the sky. Judging by the sun's position, it should have been early noontime.   
  
A man reading a newspaper was walking down near the alleyway, when Doyle jerked the paper from him abruptly.   
  
"Hey! Let go of that! That's mine, you jerk!--"  
  
But off the dark look from Kendra, the man thought twice and turned away.  
  
"Wh-where a-are we?", Tara asked, clutching her sides protectively.  
  
Doyle flashed a grin as he saw the date. But more importantly, the title of the paper.  
  
" I think the name speaks for itself."  
  
Both of the women's eyes widened as they saw the headline of the paper...  
  
The Los Angeles Times.  
  
"Ladies", Doyle smiled mischievously. "Welcome to L.A.."  
  
All Kendra and Tara could do was blink.   
  
In stunned silence.  
  
--------------------  
  
To Be Continued...  
  
INT. MAGIC BOX -   
MEANWHILE - NIGHT PANNING ACROSS what looks like a WAR ZONE. The shop is in shambles. A LARGE BEAM fallen where the ceiling has partially COLLAPSED, moonlight drifting in. Much of the wall across from the SHATTERED COUNTER is BLOWN OUT, exposing the side alleyway and the brick facade of the building next door. All of the bookcases and shelves are overturned, merchandise smashed and strewn about the floor; SMOKE and FIRE rising from SMOLDERING, SINGED BOOKS; SPARKS flashing off fallen fixtures. A hell of a battle's been taking place... TILT UP onto WILLOW as she steps into frame. A couple of minor lacerations and bruises indicate she's taken a few blows. But she's unbowed and only marginally weakened.   
WILLOW   
That all you got, Jeeves?  
ON GILES standing across from her. He, too, is also bleeding, most noticeably from a gash near his temple, though he appears to be considerably more spent and shaky. WIDEN to see them facing each other across the rubble, like gunfighters.   
WILLOW   
(cont'd)   
'Cause I could stand to go another ten rounds.  
(eyeing him)   
Whereas you can barely stand, period.   
GILES   
Your powers... may be significantly greater... But I can still hurt you. If I have to.   
WILLOW  
(scoffing)   
Hurt me? Boy, you just don't get it, do you? Nothing can hurt me anymore.   
(re: her wounds)  
This...?   
She waves her hand across her face. Her injuries and bruises vanish.   
WILLOW   
(cont'd)   
Is nothing. It's all... nothing.   
GILES   
I see. You lose someone you love and the other people in your life... The ones who care about you become meaningless.  
BUFFY, recovering now, appears at the opening in the shattered wall of the training room, behind Giles, watching. Willow doesn't notice.   
GILES (O.S)   
I wonder... What would Tara say about that?   
Willow eyes him, stonily.   
WILLOW   
You can ask her yourself.   
Her hand shoots out toward the Upper Landing:   
WILLOW  
(cont'd)  
Obruo!  
She brings her hand down, hard. The pillar snaps. BUFFY rushes at Giles, tackling him out of the way as the Landing above them suddenly comes CRASHING DOWN, sending a cloud of dust and debris into the air. ON BUFFY and GILES, on the floor, next to some still burning books. As the dust settles, they look up to see WILLOW, standing over them. She glares at Buffy, peeved.   
WILLOW  
(cont'd)   
You're always saving everyone. It's kinda pesky.  
  
Maybe", a familiar voice said evenly. "But that's why I love her."  
All eyes shot to the doorway, where they found a sight they never thought they'd behold.   
There, standing in the doorway of the Magic Box, stood the Dark Avenger himself.  
Flanked by Cordelia and two men they'd never seen before, one of them no older perhaps than Dawn herself, Angel's eyes gazed directly at what he recognized only in form to be Willow Rosenburg, his one-time friend from this hellish town.  
Buffy's eyes widened in shock and recognition as she saw him. Yes, it was Angel. Her Angel. He appeared somewhat different. His hair had changed, and he appeared to be a little more heavier, but in a good way.  
And yet, somehow, he was the same as the day she last saw him. The gorgeous dark eyes, which held the weight of his guilt and the love from his soul. The furling black coat flapping in the unnatural wind caused by the magical battle. And of course, the tingle.   
The sixth sense they had when the other was near. After all this time, it was still there.   
"Angel!", she said softly in awe.  
"Buffy", he returned, concern and love flooding his face as he beheld the woman who held a strangle hold on his heart for all time.  
"Angel?", Giles said, stunned by the vampire's appearance.  
"Giles!", Cordelia exclaimed to her former fellow Scooby.  
"Cordelia!", the Watcher echoed in confusion.  
"Buffy?", Cordelia scruntched her eyebrows in recognition.  
"Cordy?", Buffy returned with a quizzical look on her face.  
"Gunn, Connor", Gunn muttered , uncomfortable by this reunion with people he never met before.  
Connor scrunched his face in confusion and uncertainty. He knew within a few seconds that everyone somehow knew everyone. But what he didn't understand was why his father sensed a dangerous threat among people who were supposedly his friends.  
Willow raised her eyebrows. "Well, well, well...look who's come to save the day!", she sang sarcastically. "Straight from the Land of Movie Stars and Heroes Crusades, out of our lives but not from Buffy's heart...Aaaan-gel!"  
Angel took a step forward, giving Willow the once-over, but for a good long time. "I didn't want to believe it when they told me", Angel said. "But I guess it's true. You really have become the dark power I've been hearing about."  
Willow chuckled. "Angel, honey, I really think you've picked a bad time to come blowing through Sunnydale. I mean, if you're jonesing for another heartache fest with the blonde wunderkind over there, maybe you should stop by tomorrow. That is, assuming they're all alive tomorrow. But hey, no big for you, right? You'll probably have just moved on by then. That's what you do, right? Move on? Be the strong one? Run away from the only thing in your little eternity of existence that ever made you feel something other than dead?"  
The words struck a nerve in Angel. The old wounds were still there, the pain still present, but not as raw as it was before. This was definitely not the Willow Rosenberg he knew and cared for years past. The one who restored his soul. The Willow who tried so hard to make Angel and Buffy work out romantically. The Willow who traveled all the way to LA to inform Angel of Buffy's death a year ago, and who held him that night as he sobbed mercilessly in her arms in private.   
This Willow was different.   
Cold. Harsh. Devoid of life and reeking of death and destruction.   
"Willow", he began softly, but his voice unwavering as he maneuvered his way to Buffy's side. "I came here to talk, not to fight. I want to help you. But if you harm one hair on either Buffy, Giles or any of theirs or mine--"  
"You'll...what?", Willow asked dryly. "Bite me? Torture me for hours on end? Kill my loved ones while I watch? Hey, how about maybe you break up with me in a sewer, then stalk me in the shadows while you fulfill your little mission involving me without telling me you're there?" She paused mockingly, pretending to remember. "Ohhhh, yeah, that's right. Silly me. My hair's not blonde, so I guess that puts me off your 'things-to-do' list."  
"Hey!", Cordelia spoke out. "Don't start messing around with blondes now!"  
Willow's eyes darted to Cordelia, and a look of hatred flinted through her dark orbish eyes. "Oh, don't worry, Queen C, I haven't gotten to you just yet. You're dessert."  
Cordelia snorted. "Was that some weird lesbian come-on, 'cause honey let me tell you, I'm on a fish-free diet."  
"Cordy", warned Angel and Buffy simultaneously.  
Cordelia shrugged. "Sorry. Old reflex habit."  
Willow's eyes narrowed. "You know, since the day I met you, you've just never seemed to get when you should shut your mouth. That's something I can help with--" She raised her finger.  
"Willow, I came here because I care about you", Cordelia said sincerely. "I just want you to get through this."  
Willow paused for a moment, an unreadable expression on her face. And without warning, she started to snicker.   
"Oh, yeah, right", she snorted. "That was good. REAL good. Queen Cordelia stepped down from her floating castle to help poor little Willow?" Her voice hardened. "I don't need your charity, Prom Queen. And I certainly don't need whatever it is that you pass as feelings to help me see through this. You don't even know this. You don't even know what I lost, couldn't even begin to comprehe--"  
"I can."   
Cordelia stepped closer. "I lost someone I cared about. REALLY cared about. Maybe even loved. But he...HE did it to save the world. The same world that you're threatening right now. He was taken from me, from the world, from his calling because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time..."   
She broke off, emotional. Thinking about Doyle and his sacrifice still hurt to talk about. She never told anyone, but she silently grieved and mourned for him for a long time after his death, and she had only recently begun to get past the pain. 


	2. CH 1- A Plan Comes Together

Okay, you've read the epilogue. Now on with the story…  
  
Part 1  
The Gamble  
  
  
A little less than an hour had passed and the three wanderers had managed to arrive at a quaint little dinner within a few blocks distance of the L.A. side alley they fell out of. It took a bit for Tara, and even the steely-nerved Kendra to shake off the reality of their situation.  
  
That somehow, in some crazy gamble by the ever wheeling-and-dealing Doyle, they had managed to find their way from the Other Worlds back onto the Earth dimension. And to top it off, they were alive. And breathing.   
  
They had been sitting for a while at the diner, Tara ordering nothing, while Kendra opted for a glass of water. If she had ever tasted alcohol when she was alive, she'd have probably opted, or needed to have a shot of whatever was strong. Especially right now.  
  
She glanced over to Doyle, who sat at the opposite end of the table alone, downing down a quick shot of a Billy Dee, letting out a satisfied 'aaah' in the process.  
  
"Ya ever notice how everythin' tastes much better when you're alive, lassies?", he mused as he stared at the last sips of liquor in his shot glass. "You can really taste the difference, ya know?"  
  
"Alan, dis is no time for your foolishness!", Kendra scolded, her dark eyes staring him deep into his own. He had to admit, Kendra was tough as they came, but she was still one of the most beautiful women he ever met. Easily. "You said that you were going to tell us everyting when we got here! Now start talking fast lest you don't fancy having dat sharp Irish tongue in your troat."  
  
"Uh, K-Kendra?", Tara timidly interjected. "You-you m-might want to keep it down. People are staring at us like…like…"  
  
"Like we just came back from the dead?", Kendra sarcastically said. She craned her head to the rest of the occupants who were staring at her. "What? You lookin' at someting? Go back and drink your stoopid coffee before you make me get up!"  
  
The occupants quickly looked the other way and pretended not to hear the resurrected Slayer.   
  
Doyle smirked. "Alright, now, Kendra. If you can stop frightenin' the customers out of this establishment, I think I can tell ya how we got here."  
  
Kendra folded her arms and waited. "I'm all ears."  
  
Doyle shrugged. "Well, goes like this, see? All the dimensions have walls that separate the realities from crashing down into each other and causin' a hellishly royal mess not even the best Waste Management businessmen could clean. But just because they're separated from each other doesn't mean that they don't conjoin at a given place. That place was the Sacred Place, but you already know that."  
  
The women both nodded.   
  
"So anyway, there was a legend I heard about a few years back. I was spendin' the night at a shady little bar. This was the bit before I got the visions and started workin' fer the Powers.Bad time in my life, if I must say. I pissed away me earnin's on stupid gambles and I drunk more th'n a marooned sailor on a deserted island. So I was mindin' me own business, swiggin' down me Hennessy when this Korglaro demon started makin a drama scene. I dunno if you've ever seen a Korglaro demon. Redish blotched skin, yellow eyes, sharp teeth, bad breath. And notorious liars. Claimed he was being chased down by a pair of demon bounty hunters because he wouldn't fork up the dough for a contract he commited them to. Said he didn't have long, so the poor bastard started blabin' on and on about all the valuable things he wanted to share with anyone who'd be willin' to listen. Course, nobody did, so he just started foamin' at the mouth about one thing and another--"  
  
"ALAN!", Kendra growled, slamming her hands down on the table. "Get to de point!"  
  
"Sorry, lass", Doyle chuckled. "Forgot you're not into the whole story bit."  
  
"I-I found it to be pretty interesting", Tara smiled helpfully.  
  
Doyle winked at the shy Wiccan in response. "Thanks, Tara. So, anyway, the stories were pretty mundane, until he started talking about a scripture he read somewhere. Something about the bridge tha tbound all of time and space. Claimed there was a 'Sacred Place' separated in the center of all the realities. In the center of all of this there was supposed to be this all-seeing Eye, with the power to see the present, past, future, and even the never was--"  
  
Kendra rolled her eyes. "Alan, we KNOW all of dis, and I'm STILL no closer as to knowing how we got--"  
  
"Kendra, may-maybe you should let him finish", Tara suggested. "He might leave out something important if we rush him."  
  
Kendra turned from the witch to the Seer. She sighed in resignation. "Make haste."  
  
"ANYWAY", Doyle huffed, before resuming, "He also spoke about another part of the legend. Said the Eye was controlled by a fallen god. Some say it was even the God's own eye. Legend had it that only through the will of the god guarding the eye could the Eye be breached. If one was selective enough, one could choose the spot through where you could enter."  
  
"Enter what?", Tara asked.   
  
"Time, lass", Doyle said. "Through time."  
  
Tara's jaw dropped. "Are you saying th-that somehow we went b-back through t-t-time??"  
  
"Aye, lass", Doyle nodded. "It's a fairly easy process, once you get Chronos to open the gate. Of course, Chronos doesn't open the gate, ever. I had to get him to get really pissed so he'd lose his senses long enough to do something stupid."  
  
"Like openin' de gate to three deceased warriors", Kendra smirked.  
  
Doyle pointed a finger softly in her direction. "Right on the nose, luv."  
  
"Was it dangerous?", Tara suddenly asked.  
  
Both turned to the shy Wiccan. "What was that?", Kendra asked.  
  
"Jumping through the portal. W-was it d-dangerous?", Tara asked. "I mean, with every action, there has to be an equal and opposite reaction."  
  
Doyle gulped. "Well...you know there are risks in everything..."  
  
"Like what kind of risks?", Kendra asked, getting suspicious.  
  
"Well, heh...I wasn't...100 percent sure it'd work", Doyle relented. "There was an 85% chance that we'd end up exactly where we needed to be...and...5%..."  
  
"That we'd die, right?", Kendra said, raising a cocked eyebrow to the Irishman.  
  
"Well...that and a 10% chance that we'd get sucked into a different time period…….i-in another dimension, but--"  
  
"ANOTHER DIMENSION?!?", both exclaimed.  
  
At that, the rest of the diner turned to the table again.  
  
Kendra turned back to all of them. " I tought I told you to stop lookin' at us!", she snapped angrily. "The next one who gawks at me like a dead fish is gonna learn why I'm called de Slayer!"  
  
The occupants again turned back to their own business, nobody wanting to get in the crossfire with the tough slayer.   
  
"I had to take the risk, Kendra", Doyle argued. "There was no other way."  
  
"There's always another way", Kendra said, her temper boiling. "I can't believe dat you'd risk our souls on a foolish gamble like dat! Tara could've died! So could you!"  
  
"We've ben dead long enough", Doyle said defensively. "It was either that or watch as me best friend spends eternity at the bottom of the sea and Buffy and her friends cope with the mess left behind this year. I wouldn't exist with that on my conscience!"   
  
A brief, but uncomfortable silence fell between them.   
  
"Besides", Doyle pointed out. "We got to where we needed to."  
  
"Where exactly is dat?", Kendra asked, miffed.  
  
"The afternoon before Justine killed Holtz and framed Angel for his murder", Tara said in realization. She glanced at Doyle, a knowing look in her eyes. "You came back to warn them, didn't you?"  
  
"Aye, smart lass ye are, Tara", he smiled. "No wonder the red-head loves ya so. But I came back, WE came back for somethin' more important than that..."  
  
"You're going to try to change history, aren't you, Alan?", Kendra realized.  
  
"No lass, WE're goin' to try and change history", Doyle nodded. "What I saw in that Eye of the Never Was, it was beautiful. And it was right. And it's not fair that some creep like that Sahjahn guy could just waltz between time and space and screw it all up for our guys and get away with it."  
  
"What can we possibly do?", Kendra asked, skeptical. "I mean, we're dead, right? Not like we can just go and fight off de bad guys--"  
  
"Call it a temporary new lease on life", Doyle answered. "We're alive for the moment. Solid. Can even hit, and eat. Something in the Eye transformed our spirits back into living flesh and bone. How, I don't know. But only until we finish what we need to accomplish."  
  
Kendra and Tara looked down at their hands for a moment. Flexing the fingers. Squeezing the palms together and staring at them as if they were made of gold. It had been a long time since Kendra had perished at the hands, or rather the nails, of Druscilla. She could barely believe that she was whole again. Alive again.   
Tara was equally as stunned. Even thoug she hadn't been gone long. it still felt like forever.  
  
"And then what?", Tara asked.  
  
"What 'then-what?", Doyle asked, puzzled.  
  
"After we f-finish, with what we have to do. Then what happens. What will we do? What wil h-hapen to us?", Tara clarified.  
  
Doyle shrugged. "I dunnot know. But I know that we have to do this. And I can't do it without ya both. "  
  
"You need not worry, Alan", Kendra smiled. "I'm in. Been a long time since old Kendra had a good fight."  
  
"Me too", Tara said, soft but determined. "For Willow. I can't just leave her to make those mistakes. I have to help her. And everyone."  
  
"Good. But we haven't much time to work with here. Even as we speak, Chronos has probably sent agents after us. No one has ever gone through the Eye before and lived to tell the tale. If he's caught wind of what we're up to and catches us before the mission is complete, our fates aren't going to be placed in the Louvre, if ya get me drift."  
  
Tara was confused. "Agents?"  
  
"Spirits. They work for Chronos, heard a bit about them ,but let's hope that they're a myth. But we have to keep focused on our goal. We have to keep the events of the coming days from passing. In both LA and Sunnydale. And we have to place the couples in that piece of the Eye of the Never Was together."  
  
"This piece?", Tara asked. At tht moment, she pulled out a shiny glowing fragment of the Eye of the Never Was. The same piece she got a hold of earlier.   
  
"You have it?!", Doyle's eyes widened and Kendra swore that he would faint.   
  
"I-I kept it just in case. That's all right, isn't it?", Tara quietly asked.  
  
Doyle affectionately touched her cheek. "More than alright, lass. We just got a brand new weapon we could use in this whole thing."  
  
"Weapon?", Tara asked, shocked by the effectiveness and value of her quick thinking. "Do you really think this thing can h-help us?"  
  
"The Eye is said to hold powers", Doyle said, running a hand over the shard of the Eye. As he trailed his finger, a greenish trail of light static enmergy followed. "If we're lucky, maybe we can find some of them out.That's where you come in handy, Tara. With your Wiccan powers, I think you might be able to figer out this little do-hickey out better than we can."  
  
"I-I can try", Tara said.   
  
Kendra watched the events flickering within the glassy shard of the Eye. She finally stated, "So, you intend to put de children, Connor and Dawn, together?"  
  
"Aye. lass. Those two are meant for great things. If they're united as one, the world as we know it will see a great new day for all. So, above all, the Key and the Miracle Child must be united."  
  
Kendra stood up and headed for the door. "Well, then, what're we waitin' round for? Let's go."  
  
"That's the spirit, lass. Let's hope you have some more of it left for all of us. We're going to need it."  
  
"Wh-where do we go first?", Tara inquired to the Irishman.  
  
Doyle looked at the clock on the wall. "To the root of the problem. But we better hurry. We have to get there at precisely the right time. Not a second sooner or later."  
  
A waiter came running up to the three of them. "Excuse me! But you haven't paid your bill yet.You can't leave."  
  
Kendra came up to the slightly taller, but thin teenage waiter and glowered. "You're feeling generous today. SO you're going to pull the tab on our meal. Make a scene and I'll make you a new neck tie, usin' yor troat. Nod if you understand."  
  
The waiter nervously nodded and backed away quickly.  
  
Kendra turned back to her friends. "Well, c'mon, then! We're wasting time."  
  
She bolted out the door.  
  
Tara and Doyle watched her exit for a moment.   
  
"Spirited lass", Doyle noted.   
  
"Y-Yes."  
  
They sighed and followed after her.  
  
--------------------------------------------  
  
To Be Continued... 


	3. Ch 2- Follow that Child...(Miracle!)

Part 3  
  
It took the trio about twenty minutes to get to midtown from the diner they had left.  
  
Tara had stayed mostly quiet, glancing mostly at the Eye fragment that was neatly tucked away in her newly acquired purse (Kendra had managed to "convince" a passerby to "lend" her the purse for safe storage of the fragment.) Meanwhile, Doyle and Kendra were animatedly arguing over why they could not get transportation over to Angel Invesigations, located further upwards from their location.  
  
"Did you not say dat we were in a hurry, Alan?", Kendra snapped, irritated at the handsome Irishman.  
  
"DOYLE!", he shot back. "For the umpteenth blasted time, it's DOYLE, NOT ALAN! And secondly, need I remind you that our little ressurection let us shy in the, I don't know, HAVING-MONEY DEPARTMENT?! What are we supposed to pay transportation with, our eternal thanks?!"  
  
"Then we shall force them to take us!", Kendra insisted, growing more determined.  
  
"What is it with you Slayer types? You always think that poundin' the livin' daylights outta someone will solve any problem?", Doyle said incredulously. "What's gonna happen then if we get arrested, hmm?  
  
"Well, at LEAST I'm tryin' to decipher a solution rather than wasting time walking up these stoopid streets like some common pedestrian!", Kendra growled.  
  
"Hey, I'm thinking!", Doyle protested. "Unlike you, I'm coming up with a plan that resembles SANITY!"  
  
"Stop it!", Tara demanded suddenly. Both immediately ceased their bickering and turned to look at the often quiet sorceress with a bit of surprise. "Look, you guys, we have to start thinking on the same page. Our friends need us and e don't have much time!"  
  
"How much time DO we have, Alan?", Kendra asked, rather apprehensively.  
  
Doyle pulled out his trusty chain watch from his pocket. Even in death, he never let it out of his possession. "HOLY SMOKE!", he exclaimed, his eyes practically shooting out of his head. "12:15?! We have only fifteen minutes left!"  
  
"WHAT?!", Kendra shouted.  
  
"FIFTEEN minutes??", Tara asked in disbelief. "We'll never make it! Angel Investigations is at l-least half an hour's walk from here!"  
  
"Oh, Christ, we're screwed", Doyle swore, cursing himself mentally for not keeping better track of time.  
  
"You see? I TOLD you we should have just snuck on de bus and took our chances!", Kendra snapped at Doyle. "But of course! You had to INSIST on walking! 'We'll make it on time, Kendra!' 'Plenty of time, Kendra!' Time me left foot!"  
  
"HEY! Excuse me for not being up with the change in times in L.A. traffic! Sorry, I've only been DEAD FOR FOUR YEARS!", Doyle returned.  
  
"I've been dead for SIX damn years and even I could have told you this plan stank!", Kendra shot back.  
  
"OKAY!", Tara finally exclaimed. "That's it! Both of you better s-stop it right NOW! The next person who raises their voice is going to make me VERY cranky."  
  
Both took a nervous glance at each other before sighing in resignation. Neither one of them felt like getting their mouth fused shut by an enormously powerful wiccan sorceress.  
  
"Look, we're just going to have to keep walking, okay?", Tara tried to rationalize. "I know it's hard, but it's the only option we have right now."  
  
Suddenly, Doyle's eyes lit up. It was plain to see that the ex-Seer had a brainstorm. "Wait a tick! Tara, you're a witch, right? Can't you work up some kind o' hocus-pocus thingamabob to take us to Angel Investigations right now?"  
  
Kendra raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Well, now dat's de first logical solution I've heard you say all day."  
  
Tara shook her head. "I-I don't think I'm strong enough yet. I-It's g-going to take a little time for me to regain my strength to use m-magicks."  
  
Doyle hung his head low. "Damn it! Then it's no use! We can't make it there in time. The mission's screwed."  
  
"Screwed?", Kendra asked, getting mad. "I'll UN-screw yer head, ye little leprachaun! You mean to tell me dat you dragged us all dis way fer nothing? Damaged de whole time continuem on a hunch?! Of all the stupid, thoughtless, inconceivable-"  
  
"THOUGHTLESS?!", Doyle snapped. "At least I TRIED to think up a logical solution instead of HENPECKING and SNAPPING like a rabid DOG!"  
  
"WHO you callin' a dog?", Kendra shot back.  
  
Tara listened to this, and tried to turn away. She hated arguments, and with only fifteen minutes and counting left to find Angel Investigations before.whatever it was that was supposed to happen, she really wasn't in the mood to be around more conflict.  
  
Unconsciously, her hands reached into her purse and wrapped around the glowing shard of the Eye. She soothed her fingers along the glassy object, back and forth as if it were a newborn child.  
  
"God, if we could just be there already", she muttered under her breath, hands still on the Eye. "I just wish we were even close to Angel Investigations, like five blocks or something-"  
  
And that's when it happened. As soon as she uttered the words, the Eye began to radiantly blink and then to glow a steady jade green. A green stream of energy shot out from the Eye and shot around Tara and the other two travelers, engulfing them in a swirl of green light.  
  
"And another ting!", Kendra shouted. "If you hadn't been busy munching away at de snack bar, we'd already be."  
  
Kendra broke off when she realized that the scenery around them had changed. The traffic flow had decreased somewhat and the stores around them were different.  
  
Doyle looked around bewildered. "What? What in the.? What the blazes is goin' on?"  
  
Tara was stunned to see everything around her change. One minute, she was in one corner of L.A., hoping to get at least within a few blocks of AI, and the next-  
  
The Eye.  
  
Of course!, she realized. That's gotta be the answer!  
  
"Uh, Doyle", Tara called timidly. "I-I think that there's -"  
  
"YA-HOO!", Doyle whooped. "Do you realize where we are?"  
  
Both girls shook their heads.  
  
"Look up there!", the Irishman said, pointing to a street corner. The words on the respective sides of the crossing read '46th Street' and 'Franklin Road'.  
  
"46th and Franklin!", Doyle exclaimed. "That's only 5 blocks from the Hyperion Hotel!"  
  
Tara froze up. "D-d-did you say f-f-five b-blocks?", she stammered nervously.  
  
Doyle took a moment to think. "Yeah, about sums it up. Why's that, lass?"  
  
Tara looked down to the bag in her trembling hands. She honestly didn't know what to say.  
  
"Never mind dat", Kendra brushed past her, anxiously looking around the street for any pathways. "We should have only about 11 minutes left. Five blocks is a good measure, but we have to hurry. Come!"  
  
"Hold on a sec, will ya!", Doyle called out as he raced to the head of the pack. "You don't know yer way around L.A. I DO! Follow me!"  
  
"Then hurry up and stop wastin' about!", Kendra snapped.  
  
"C'mon, guys", Tara said as she trotted alongside the swift-moving heroes. "We're getting closer. Maybe we'll be there faster than we think. I've got a good feeling about this." ------------------------------- "Stop saying that!"  
  
Holtz is sitting across the table from Connor, holding his hands. Holtz simply said, "It is true, son."  
  
Connor was furious. "You're wrong!"  
  
"I'm not wrong", the demon hunter calmly replied to his 'son'. " Anyone who saw you together would realize - that's where you're meant to be - at his side."  
  
Connor shook his head. "No!" He refused to believe it. Or acknowledge it. That wasn't it. It couldn't be.  
  
"It was your need for him that drove you across the dimension", Holtz insisted calmly.  
  
"I don't need him!", Connor shouted at the only man he had ever recognized as his father.  
  
Holtz made sure he held the boy's eyes when he uttered a phrase that he never thought he'd tell him. Something that was painful and torturous to get to leave his mouth.  
  
"Go back to him, Steven."  
  
Connor felt as if he was on the verge of tears. "Why are you doing this? Why? God gave me to you."  
  
"Yes. It was god's plan for us to be together. Nothing will ever persuade me otherwise", Holtz explained as calmly as he could without breaking down himself. "But now it's time for me to give you back."  
  
"He's a demon", Connor bitterly spat.  
  
Holtz let a hint of anger slip out as he looked his surrogate son in the eyes and said, "And you're the bastard son of two demons."  
  
Connor felt himself go slack as the words hit him like cold water. "Then I'm a demon."  
  
Holtz felt his self-hatred boiling up for doing this to him. "You're not. God help me, I don't know what you are, but I'm not the one to give you answers, and there *are* answers."  
  
He looked to the door of the hotel room pointedly, pausing before doing one of the hardest things he ever had to do.  
  
"Go and find them out." ----------------------------------------------  
  
Fred and Gunn pulled up across from the French Cottage motel, still following the readings of Fred's modified Geiger counter.  
  
Fred studied the counter. "Okay. Except for the hotel the strongest emissions are coming from somewhere in this vicinity."  
  
Gunn shrugged "Now what? We go door to door and ask if anyone's seen any inter-dimensional boogies?"  
  
"I'm not sure", she admitted. " I don't even know if we should be looking above ground or not."  
  
Meanwhile in the hotel..  
  
Connor pulled his hands out from under Holtz'.  
  
Connor eyed his "father" with resentment. "You told me not to be deceived. But you've let yourself be deceived."  
  
Holtz answered calmy, "If I could stop this, I would, son. But we were brought here by forces beyond our control."  
  
Connor sprung up and headed for the door.  
  
Connor gazed at his "father" angrily. "You're wrong." Then he bolted out the door.  
  
Gunn spotted Connor storming out of a door on the upper level of the motel.  
  
Gunn nudged Fred. "Hey. Check it out."  
  
They watched as Connor reached the end of the balcony and after quick look around dropped down over the railing to run off.  
  
Fred nodded. "Looks like we've been following Angel's son's emissions the whole time."  
  
Gunn sighed. "Now there is a sentence I don't ever need to hear again."  
  
"But it's good, right?", Fred asked hopefully. " It means there was no big scary that came out of the portal."  
  
Gunn turned back to look at the room Connor ran out of.and saw Holtz appear in the open door.  
  
"How about a short scary?", Gunn said, groaning inwardly. Bad news for Angel.  
  
Holtz slowly closed the door.  
  
"This isn't good", Gunn muttered. He looked at Fred. "Let's go. Something tells me Junior's getting homesick, but he ain't bringin' no hugs for daddy."  
  
Fred nodded and the two turned around and roared off in Gunn's van towards the Hyperion.just as Doyle, Kendra and Tara turned the corner of the hotel a few feet from where they were.  
  
Kendra looked up in the distance. Her keen Slayer sight scanned up ahead for anything potentially dangerous. "Dat's him!", she exclaimed, pointing up ahead.  
  
"What's who?", Doyle asked, puzzled.  
  
"HIM! Connor! De boy dat we've been sent for!", she said.  
  
"What? You sure 'bout that, Kendra?", Doyle asked, looking up ahead for.whatever it was that Kendra's vision caught.  
  
Kendra groaned. "YES, dat's him! I'm not blind, you know!"  
  
"Then what do we do?", Tara asked Doyle.  
  
After thinking a minute, Doyle answered. "Follow him. But stay at a safe distance. He can't be allowed to see us until the right time."  
  
"Which would be when?", Kendra asked, a hint of impatience trickling through her voice.  
  
Doyle looked at his watch. "Another 7minutes and 48 seconds."  
  
"Then let's hurry up", Tara insisted.  
  
"No need to rush you folks", a gritty voice said from behind them.  
  
The trio turned around to find about 10 to 12 mean-looking biker thugs, each with either a chain or club or some lethal weapon in hand.  
  
"Swell", Doyle groaned. "Just what we DIDN'T need right now."  
  
The leader stepped up to the head of the group. A balding, leather-clad, red-bearded thug with a toothy grin, leering at the curvaceous Kendra and the fair Tara with appreciation. Tara shifted slightly behind Doyle in slight fear.  
  
Kendra glared at the taller man in disgust. "What de hell do you want?"  
  
"Well, your money and valuables would be nice", the man grinned wickedly. "And uh.whatever, er, services you lovely ladies would be kind enough to provide my boys with."  
  
The thugs laughed and snorted at the implication.  
  
Kendra cocked her head and balled her fists. "Doyle, protect Tara. Dis could get ugly."  
  
Doyle's eyes widened. "Kendra-",he warned.  
  
"Don't worry", she assured him, before turning back to the gang with a dark glare in her feral eyes. "Dis won't take long."  
  
Doyle looked down to his watch. 7 minutes and 21 seconds left.  
  
"It'd better not", he muttered under his breath as he shielded Tara. "For Angel's sake." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----  
  
To BE Continued. 


End file.
